Extreme Malice

  Chapter 27

  Tuesday, December 6th 8:22 am

  Snow fell lightly as Jack and his mother made their way to the courtroom for the second day of the trail. It was another hectic day of crowds standing in their usual position as they arrived with cameras clicking and flashing. The noise only quieted once Josh was returned to the courtroom and sat in the prisoner's box.

  Ron Baxter jumped in immediately to lay out the sequence of events on the night of Donna’s murder. He began by calling Shirley Knox to the stand and had her describe the day she entered the Gardner home and found Donna on the bed with the guitar wire wrapped around her neck. The guitar wire was entered as the first exhibit of evidence.

  Many witnesses were called throughout the day. Barry sometimes objected to questions and asked his own questions to the witness. Jack, as a witness for the prosecution, knew he could be asked to testify at any time.

  The parade of witnesses was expected to continue over the next six days. Jack sat there amused by it all as he let his mind drift back to the past and recall what really happened. Barry had some of it right, but most of his argument was just a best guess from the evidence they had. Barry proposed a good plot, and Jack liked that the story locked in the theory of Josh's guilt.

  Jack let himself slip back to an evening in early spring many months ago when he had decided Josh would absolutely be the centerpiece to Donna’s murder. Fred’s brash arrogance about how much money he had was the catalyst that let the opportunity evolve. He was always showing off and letting everybody know how rich he was. Well, Jack would just see to it that he parted with some of it. The Anderson's dinner party was where the many pieces were suspended right in front of Jack.

  Fred was consistent, always insisting that Jack descend to the lower level wine cellar to pick out that second bottle of wine. It was down here where Jack finally pulled it all together. Jack started to extend his time in the cellar. He was down in the cellar for twelve minutes one time before Fred finally hollered down to ask Jack what was taking so long. But Jack was not really searching through Fred's fabulous collection all that time. Jack was only trying to discover the maximum time he could be allowed down in the cellar, only feet away from the lower bathroom and Josh's bedroom, without raising suspicion.

  At the next dinner parties, Jack stole away from the cellar to quickly inspect the bathroom and Josh's bedroom. He would just have a quick peek to make a mental note of the items in each room and the layout. There had to be something useful to tie Josh into all of this.

  In mid-July, at yet another dinner party, he spotted the guitar strings resting on Josh's night table. He resisted grabbing them that night as he had not yet decided on the manner in which he would murder Donna. For the next few days he could not get the guitar strings out of his mind. At the following dinner party, two weeks later, he stole back into Josh's room, but he did not see the guitar wires anywhere. He slowly scanned Josh's bedroom. He looked on the shelf, under the bed, and in the trash. He pulled open the drawer of the bedside table and there they were; six little D'addario packets laying loose inside the bottom of the drawer. Each packet contained one used wire coiled up and stuffed inside. Jack donned the latex gloves he had pocketed before arriving at the party in anticipation of scooping these up. He carefully opened each paper packet in search for the large e-string, which he found quickly. He also saw the plastic packaging that the six packs originally came in and made a note on the back of the packet about the type of guitar strings Josh had purchased with one of Josh's pens. He scribbled EJ17 on the pack and shoved it deep into his pocket with the latex gloves. Jack returned to the wine cellar, calmly grabbing the nearest bottle of wine and ventured upstairs to join Donna and the Andersons.

  Jack was pulled from his daydream as Judge Rumpoldt pounded the gavel to announce the midday lunch recess. As everyone stood to leave, Jack was approached by Ron Baxter’s assistant who told him he could expect to be called up in the afternoon session. Jack nodded. It was his turn to go under the lights.

  The lunch break gave Jack some time to mentally prepare for what he was about to endure. He talked with his mother as they shared a couple of stuffed vegetable pita pockets. Louisie told Jack to simply tell the truth. There was absolutely nothing to worry about if he told the jury everything he knew. She smiled at Jack hoping he would smile back, but he couldn't do it. To Louisie it was simple, but he knew he would have to lie the whole way through his testimony. He was the only one who knew what really happened that night, and he wasn’t entirely sure he could keep the truth from erupting if his emotions interfered. He turned his thoughts to the conclusion of it all. It was only weeks away now. The money would come. He already put in the time and effort and was ready for the reward. The stress of it all was beginning to tire him out, and being tired, he knew, was risky.

  They finished their lunch. He hugged his mother and waited for her while she puffed away on another cigarette before heading back to the courtroom.